Pittman v. Gorman et al

Filing 21

ORDER adopting 10 Proposed Findings and Recommendation as this Court's findings in all respects; dismissing without prejudice Mr. Pittman's claims; recommending that dismissal count as a "strike"; certifying that an in forma pau peris appeal from this Order and the accompanying Judgment would not be taken in good faith; denying as futile 14 motion to amend complaint; and denying as moot 16 second motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis. Signed by Chief Judge Kristine G. Baker on 3/26/2024. (jbh)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
CENTRAL DIVISION
ROBERT EARL PITTMAN
v.

PLAINTIFF

Case No. 4:23-cv-00031-KGB-PSH

JOSEPH GORMAN, et al.

DEFENDANTS
ORDER

Before the Court are the Proposed Findings and Recommendation (“Recommendation”)
submitted by United States Magistrate Judge Patricia S. Harris (Dkt. No. 10). Plaintiff Robert Earl
Pittman has filed untimely objections to the Recommendation (Dkt. No. 12). After careful
consideration of the Recommendation, the objections, and a de novo review of the record, the
Court concludes that the Recommendation should be, and hereby is, approved and adopted as this
Court’s findings in all respects (Dkt. No. 10). Mr. Pittman’s objections restate allegations in his
complaint and fail to rebut the Recommendation.
Mr. Pittman has also filed a motion to amend his complaint and an addendum to the motion
to amend his complaint (Dkt. Nos. 14; 15). Mr. Pittman, in his amended complaint, drops his
claims against two defendants and names a new defendant. The addendum to his amended
complaint seeks a medical remedy for his internal bleeding (Dkt. No. 15). Mr. Pittman’s claims
in his amended complaint are substantively the same claims that he raises in his original complaint
(Dkt. No. 14). Mr. Pittman claims that poison is being injected into his food causing internal
bleeding and that there is a million-dollar bounty on his head (Id., at 5). Mr. Pittman asserts that
defendants Justin Baker and Joyce Marshall are consorting to kill him to obtain the million-dollar
bounty (Id.). Mr. Pittman alleges that defendant Joseph Gorman condones Mr. Pittman’s food
being poisoned and permitted an attacked by another inmate on December 11, 2022, to obtain the

million-dollar bounty (Id.).

Mr. Pittman’s proposed amended complaint does not cure the

deficiencies in the original complaint identified by Judge Harris in the Recommendation. For these
reasons, the Court denies as futile Mr. Pittman’s motion to amend his complaint (Dkt. No. 14).
Accordingly, the Court adopts Judge Harris’s Recommendation as this Court’s findings in
all respects (Dkt. No. 10). Mr. Pittman’s claims are dismissed without prejudice for failure to state
a claim upon which relief may be granted. The Court recommends that this dismissal count as a
“strike” for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). The Court certifies, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §
1915(a)(3), that an in forma pauperis appeal from this Order and the accompanying Judgment
would not be taken in good faith. The Court denies as futile Mr. Pittman’s motion to amend
complaint and denies as moot Mr. Pittman’s second motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis
(Dkt. Nos. 14; 16).
So ordered this 26th day of March, 2024.

_______________________________
Kristine G. Baker
Chief United States District Judge

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